olympicsfandomcom-20200213-history
Kerri Walsh-Jennings
Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player. Walsh-Jennings and teammate Misty May-Treanor were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time." Early years Kerri Lee Walsh was born in Santa Clara, California, the daughter of Margery Lee (née Formico) and Timothy Joseph Walsh. Her ancestry includes Italian (from a great-grandfather), Austrian, Irish, Canadian, and Scottish. She grew up in Saratoga, California. School In her earlier elementary and middle school life, she attended Baymonte Christian School in Scotts Valley, California. As a high school student, Walsh played indoor volleyball at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California. She graduated in 1996. There, she led her team to three state championships in indoor volleyball from 1993-1995. She also led her team to one state championship in basketball in 1995. In 1996, she was named by Gatorade (ESPNHS) as their first girl's national volleyball player of the year. In high school competition, she played against her future partner, Misty May-Treanor. College Walsh continued on to Stanford University, where she won national titles in 1996 and 1997 and was a four-year first-team All-American, Final Four MVP in 1996 and co-National Player of the Year in 1999.9 She graduated from Stanford in 2000 with a B.A. in American studies. She played against her teammate (Misty May) in college. Professional career Kerri Walsh-Jennings plays professional beach volleyball on the U.S. AVP Tour and internationally on the FIVB World Tour. On July 23, 2006, Walsh-Jennings topped $1 million in career earnings. Walsh-Jennings won her second gold medal at the summer games in Beijing after having rotator cuff surgery the preceding fall. Olympics Sydney 2000 Walsh played in the 2000 Summer Olympics on the U.S. women's indoor team, earning a fourth-place finish. She missed several of her first games due to a false positive on a drug test, which indicated a suspicious epitestosterone to testosterone ratio. After being retested, Walsh was cleared of any wrongdoing and allowed to continue playing. Athens 2004 At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won the gold medal in women's beach volleyball without losing a single game. Beijing 2008 On August 21, Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor repeated as Olympic gold medalists, defeating the first-seeded Chinese team in the final match (they would have been first-seeded, but home rule put them in the #2 spot with China as the #1). May-Treanor and Walsh did not lose a set in either of the past two Olympics. Their final match extended their unbeaten streak to 108 matches. London 2012 Walsh and May-Treanor competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. After first and second round wins, they continued their Olympic win streak of 30 consecutive sets without a loss until losing the first set of three to Austria in a preliminary round before ultimately winning the match, 17-21; 21-8; 15-10. TV, film and radio appearances In February 2006, Walsh-Jennings had a guest-starring role in an episode of CSI: Miami along with several other AVP Volleyball players. Walsh-Jennings hosts a weekly, one-hour radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Faction 28 station. It airs every Sunday morning at 9 AM Eastern time. Kerri Walsh-Jennings appeared in the Game Show Network television show Extreme Dodgeball. She was a member of the Detroit Spoilers, who lost all ten games they played. Kerri Walsh-Jennings also appeared alongside her volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor on the show Shaq Vs. in August 2009. Other ventures Walsh currently endorses the therapeutic athletic tape KT Tape (Kinesiology Therapeutic Tape). Training In addition to her training on the sand split between Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles, California, Walsh has been training in the gym at O.C. Fast-Twitch since 2002 with trainer Tommy Knox. Personal life Walsh is married to fellow pro-beach volleyball player Casey Jennings. Together, they have two sons, Joseph Michael (Born May 22, 2009) and Sundance Thomas (Born May 19, 2010) and one daughter Scout Margery (born April 6, 2013). She is close friends with Misty May-Treanor. Awards and honors *AVP Best Offensive Player 2003 *AVP Crocs Cup Champion 2006 (Misty May-Treanor), 2007 (Misty May-Treanor), 2008 (Misty May-Treanor) *AVP Most Valuable Player 2003, 2004 *AVP Team of the Year 2003 (Misty May-Treanor), 2004 (Misty May-Treanor), 2005 (Misty May-Treanor), *2006 (Misty May-Treanor), 2007 (Misty May-Treanor), 2008 (Misty May-Treanor) *AVP Best Defensive Player (Blocker) 2008 *FIVB Best Blocker 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 *FIVB Best Hitter 2005, 2006, 2007 *FIVB Best Offensive Player 2007 *FIVB Most Outstanding 2007 *FIVB Sportsperson 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 *FIVB Tour Champion 2002 (Misty May-Treanor) *2004 and 2006 — Sportswoman of the Year Award (with Misty May-Treanor) Gallery Kerri Walsh.jpg Kerri Walsh Jennings - 3 time Gold Medalist.jpg External links *Golden Girl goes for three-peat in London *Official website of Kerri Walsh *O.C. Fast-Twitch Hall of Fame Kerri Walsh *Kerri Walsh on TIME's 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch. * * Her Facebook Page * Her Twitter Page Category:USA Volleyball Category:Beach Volleyball Category:London 2012 Athletes Category:Athletes Category:Team USA Category:Sydney 2000 Athletes Category:Athens 2004 Athletes Category:Beijing 2008 Athletes Category:Gold Medalists Category:1978 Births Category:Four Time Olympians